


Missing

by Iresposts



Series: Cody family album [4]
Category: Animal Kingdom (TV)
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-12
Updated: 2018-12-12
Packaged: 2019-09-16 19:45:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16960368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iresposts/pseuds/Iresposts
Summary: They were meant to help. Pope doesn't know where Baz and Julia have gone. And he doesn't need to.





	Missing

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Please wait here](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/439737) by theninjazebra. 



> Betaed very thoroughly by allthehearteyes  
> Story by theninjazebra and iresposts

**Missing**

Pope was used to being watched now.

Doors being opened every hour at night to see if he was asleep.

His reactions scrutinized and recorded during the ‘casual chats’ with the nurses in the common room and in the courtyard, both which smelled of cigarette smoke and sadness. He’d learned quickly that talking back meant getting out sooner. Playing the wellness game. Smiling even. It only worked those times when he managed to push Julia away mentally and ignored the reason why he was in here in the first place.

It had worked, because they were letting him go, and sooner than he expected. A nurse had found him that morning, taken his blood pressure and temperature and told him he could go home as soon as he saw the pharmacist for his discharge medication. That had been hours ago. He’d asked him about  _ when exactly _ mid-morning and if Smurf was coming to get him, but he’d just shrugged. So, he’d sat down on the chairs opposite the ping pong table and just stared at the staff behind the divide of clear plastic. Unlike other wards, this one had the nurses’ station behind a barrier. It made Pope feel like being in a zoo. 

He’d gotten used to it, life inside, because it was so tidy and so safe. A routine to the days, waking up, breakfast, what passed for therapy, lunch, and then the unwelcome empty hours before dinner. Sleep.

The talking hadn’t helped but the drugs had, he could now think without being overwhelmed by rage. There was a cool pill-induced distance between what he’d done and him now. It was the only thing stopping him from falling into the dark. Julia would be alright. They would be alright.

Finally, there was some movement behind the glass and the nurse who’d told him he was leaving was gesturing ‘come here’. He went and stood in front of the window.

“Your mom’s here. She loves to bake, huh?” He held up a cookie.

Pope nodded, inwardly jittery but trying to keep calm. Nearly there.

He waited while the nurse slowly ate a couple of cookies, rustled paperwork and pill bottles, moving like molasses. Finally, he seemed to be done, and he went around the side and the doors opened. “OK. Ready?” He gave Pope some paperwork and a large plastic bag of medication, which rattled cheerfully. The sound reminded him of one of Deran’s noisy toys from when he was two – a multi-coloured plastic snake, which he’d loved shaking and driving everyone else crazy.

The nurse thrust his stuff into Pope’s hands. His wallet, and his Nokia. He stared bemusedly at the coins sticky taped into piles, and his belt. He’d not thought of his belt as an escape before, until it had been taken off him for that reason.

“Andrew!” He looked up at that and there she was. He wasn’t expecting the hug, so it took him a few moments to respond, but he managed to hug Smurf back. Even when she moved away, he was enveloped in her scent, warm with cookies and her too sweet perfume. “Oh, sweetie. Let’s get you home.”

The car ride was too quick and filled with Smurf talking about what he’d missed. They were approaching their street when he caught the question and it took him a moment to process.

“What? You’re leaving now?”

“I need you and Baz to look after Deran and Craig, tonight and for this weekend. I need to get to LA to sort out some business.” She looked at him, and Pope felt his shakes return. It happened a lot now, his guts turning to water at the thought of anything complicated. But this wasn’t too awful, Baz would be there. He’d be fine.

“And Julia?”

“Oh, your sister’s around. But she’s in her own world.” Smurf’s smile was glassy.

Pope didn’t say anything. He always felt pulled in two, one half straining to Smurf, the other firmly attached to his twin, his soul-mate. He’d missed her. She’d come to see him, but her eyes were now empty as dark sky, and about as close.

They pulled up at the house. Pope gathered his things together and looked at Smurf.

“You’re not coming in?” Pope asked.

She shook her head and told him that she’d already given Baz the cash for the weekend.

Pope shrugged and walked into the house.

This was where he’d wanted to be all those long empty hours locked up but now that he was back, he didn’t really want to be here. Being present meant he had to see them together, and that was what had made him lose his shit in the skate park, when Jeremy had said – what he’d said. Pope’s reaction had meant the cops, and then the ambulance, then the straps and days lost. No one ever thought about him and how he felt. Just dead-on-the-inside Pope.

But he didn’t know for sure. Maybe he was imagining the betrayal. But there were other people in the house who’d know for sure. He walked into the kitchen.

“Pope. You’re back bro!” Craig picked him up and shook him excitedly.

Craig looked like he had added extra inches even in the month since he’d been away. Still the same though, too many knobbly knees and elbows, and with the stink of teenage boy. Smurf had hosed him down in the kitchen once because he’d refused to shower, which Pope thought would have fixed the odor issue, but apparently the effectiveness of the threat had worn off.

“Put me down,” he said, and Craig dropped him immediately.

Pope landed awkwardly and felt his ankle jar, but he didn’t say anything. It was just Craig. Too large and too alive and filled with sunshine and kind of out of place in their family. Like he belonged to some other family that didn’t have a dark heart.

“I missed you! We all missed you. Smurf wouldn’t let us go see you, but Julia went anyway. She’s been really sad that you weren’t here.”

“Where is she?”

“Her and Baz are—” Craig started and changed his mind, looking shifty. Pope felt the rage rise and had to consciously push it down. To that way lay madness and loss of control. He had to be OK about it, but he had to know.

“What about her and Baz?” Pope asked quietly, but the quietness seemed to unsettle Craig more. Pope tried out the smile he’d practiced inside.

“Uh...” Craig backed away. Maybe the smile was too much, so he wiped his face and let it settle into normalcy, which seemed to relieve Craig who started talking again. “So, Smurf got us these awesome trail bikes and we—”

“Pope?” It was Deran. His face was covered in pink stains. Ice-cream? Pope grabbed the roll of paper towels, tore a couple of squares off, wet them and wiped Deran’s face. He was at the kid stage where he just seemed sticky all the time. He pushed his fringe from his eyes and wiped at his forehead too when he saw the pink there. “Where’s Smurf?” Deran asked. Pope sighed. Deran spent his time velcroed to Smurf and was an utter shit even if she left him alone for even a couple of hours when she went to the grocery store. But a weekend without her? He’d be unbearable. Pope didn’t need this.

“Where’s Baz and Julia, Craig?” He needed their help. He could feel his own fragility, they’d put him back together in there, but it was a duct-tape and prayer job. He really didn’t need this. He couldn’t cope with this.

“Let me show you this awesome trick—” Craig yelled and backed out of the kitchen.

“Craig!” Pope yelled after him, but Craig didn’t stop, just ran outside.

“Where’s Smurf? I want Smurf.” Deran was looking like he was going cry.

“It’s OK kiddo. She’ll be back.” Pope ruffled Deran’s hair and pulled his hand away quickly. Sticky there too. What the hell had Deran been into? He was still staring at his hand, puzzled at the pink when he heard a thump overhead followed by another thump and then a bloodcurdling yell.

Pope ran outside. Craig was crumpled on the pavers, motionless. Even before Pope had made his way to him, Craig came to. Craig hauled himself up using one hand. The other arm was oddly bent, but not bleeding.

“Oh man. That wasn’t supposed to happen.” He was staring at his forearm like it belonged to someone else.

“What were you trying to do?” Pope asked. It looked like only the arm was worse for wear. The other scrapes looked superficial. Some he thought pre-dated the current accident. From the trail bikes, maybe.

“I got on the roof, so I could—” Craig began and then started crying, still staring at his arm. “It hurts.” Despite the giant body, there was still a boy in there. “I can’t move my hand Pope!” 

“It’s OK kiddo. Let’s get you up.” Pope knelt and got his arm under Craig’s shoulder and hauled him up. Craig moaned in pain as his injured arm got jostled. Pope thought it was definitely broken.

“What’s wrong with Craig’s arm?” Deran was staring at them.

“He’s hurt it and we need to get him some help,” said Pope. He couldn’t wait for Baz. He had to deal with it himself. He knew what Smurf would say if he called her.

He got Craig inside, and sat him down on one of the barstools. He figured it would be the easiest to get him standing again. Craig had stopped crying, but his face was white. He looked like he was about to pass out again.

“Deran, quick go get your sheep. We might be a while.”

“Why do I have to go anywhere? I don’t want to go anywhere. I want Smurf.”

“Because you’re not going to be alone in the house. Because I say so and Smurf’s coming back on Sunday.”

Deran looked like he was about to argue, so Pope glared at him and let the mask slip. Deran stared obstinately back before he went off and came back with his sheep. 

Pope loosened his belt and took it off. He found a magazine - one of Smurf’s cooking ones - which he rolled into a splint. He slid it under so it supported the broken bone, and tied the belt around Craig’s neck as a sling to support the arm. Craig had stopped talking, which Pope took to mean that he was really hurting.

Pope found the keys to the remaining car in the drawer that also held their can and bottle openers. Seeing them he felt like he needed a drink now. It was too much. His insides were quivering like jello. But Pope had never been much for drinking, preferring reality to escape. Not like Julia.

_ Where were they? _

He got them all into the car, and then to the hospital. He filled out the forms for Craig, stopping to ask him what his middle name was. Pope undid the sticky tape from his coins and got as much candy as he could to give to Deran who was looking fidgety. Pope loaded him up with sweets.

They didn’t have to wait long, the unsettling angle of Craig’s arm got him seen to fast. The first doctor barely looked at him before ordering X-rays, and then they had to wait some more before they got carted off to Radiology. Deran was getting ratty so Pope was relieved when the results were back. Then they were finally in a treatment room, with Craig dosed up on something and getting ready for his arm to be reset.

Pope picked his moment. There. Distracted enough and unable to escape and worrying about how much his arm would hurt being bent back into shape.

“Where are they? Baz and Julia?”

“At Jeremy’s house. He’s having a party tonight,” said Craig. He was slurring now with whatever they had given him.

“That’s all?” Pope couldn’t make it out. Why would he care about Baz and Julia going to a party? Unless they didn’t want him there because it was Jeremy. 

“Did they tell you not to tell me?”

“Yeah,” said Craig. That hurt, but in an understandable way. He wasn’t fun at parties. There had to be something more. Something that he’d suspected for a long time. Something that he could ask now and expect an honest answer.

“Are they—” None of the words seemed right to use for his sister and his brother. He finally settled for “—having sex?”

Craig looked away, and then Pope didn’t need him to say the words after all. He knew. He’d always known even before Jeremy had joked about it that day. He couldn’t even bring himself to hate them now that the drugs were numbing him so well.

“OK,” he said and then they didn’t say anything at all. Not while Craig’s arm was straightened out, not when they were waiting for the bill, not when the doctor explained fracture care and do’s and don’ts and especially not to stick pencils in the cast. The silence continued even when they got home. Baz and Julia didn’t show the whole weekend, which meant that they wanted him to know.

Pope was never the same again.


End file.
